“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big release on April 22: The Huntsman: Winter’s War.

Big picture: Happily ever afters don’t come to lands under perpetually bad rulership — whether evil-witch queens, or uncomfortable monarchs sitting on thrones made out of pointy swords. Winter’s War is the unnecessary sequel-prequel to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman. This one is all about the famous magic mirror on the wall, which has fallen into the hands of an icy, new witch who is either heartless or heartbroken (after Maleficent, I stopped keeping track). Cue the Huntsman’s (Chris Hemsworth) next big mission, pitting him against his long-lost warrior love (Jessica Chastain) and an old frenemy. That’s right; Charlize Theron returns to chew the scenery as the wicked Queen Ravenna, while Emily Blunt plays her frosty sister Freya. Kristen Stewart’s Snow is absent this time, so the dialogue will be half as wooden.
But that leaves more screen time for Hemsworth to flex his muscles and frown furiously (maybe it wards off magic or something). If you want to see a queen that brings the fire, stay tuned for Game of Thrones on Sunday. If you want to see Hemsworth muscle his way into being typecast, this is your film. (C’mon, buddy; branch out. How many Thor and Huntsman sequels do you think the box office can handle?)

Honourable mention: Elvis & Nixon. I’d be more excited if this was called Richard Nixon: Undead Elvis Hunter. But this dramedy tells the “untold true” story behind the classic photograph of former U.S. President Nixon (Kevin Spacey) meeting Elvis Presley (Michael Shannon). As one of the Nixon’s aides puts it: “Everybody loves Elvis. He could really help us with the youth folk.” It turns out the King of Rock ’n’ Roll and Tricky Dicky had far more in common than you’d think. We’re all shook up.

Big picture: Finally. Twelve months of hand-wringing and conspiracy theories about Jon Snow can mercifully come to an end. (Is he dead? Who cares? Almost everyone in the cast will likely be dead before the series’ eventual finale.) Season 6 is all about women’s rights. OK, not exactly. You can still count on the occasional topless orgy — especially now that Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) is in charge of a city again. But the show’s powerful female characters will take centre stage. Queen Daenerys aims to win over a new Dothraki horde; Queen Regent Cersei violently reasserts her authority; Arya Stark delivers more bodies to the Many-Faced God; and her sister Sansa will get in a playful snowball fight with the White Walkers (and readers will be furious because it wasn’t in the books). But seriously now. Viewers can expect more of the Iron Islands — which is kind of like Newfoundland, if every local was armed to the teeth, worked as a pirate and hated small talk. Meanwhile, The Containment is set in an Atlanta under quarantine after a mysterious virus is unleashed. I know what you’re thinking. Vampires? Zombies? Aliens? Hybrids? Cover-ups? Terrorist attack? Or just a deadly flu? Time will tell. (Containment is like a NeoCitran commercial written by Stephen King.) Of course, the cordoned residents quickly find themselves in a post-apocalyptic present with no Katniss in sight. (Global hopes to infect viewers with a two-episode premiere on April 25.)

Forecast: Game of Thrones will make you thankful that modern office politics aren’t resolved with real weapons; Containment will make you thankful that flu season is almost over.

Big picture: This week’s new releases have two things in common. They’re both by Canadians, and their titles could double as titles of Game of Thrones episodes. Take All My Loves honours the 400th anniversary of the The Bard’s death by reinventing his words via a blend of pop and classical music. This adaptation of Shakespeare’s sonnets includes guest appearances by the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Martha Wainwright, Florence Welch (minus The Machine) and William Shatner. Meanwhile, Ghost Light finds brilliant Toronto singer-songwriter Royal Wood haunting us with his melancholic musings about life. The multi-talented Wood plays 90 per cent of the album’s instruments himself, but occasionally brings in help from Cancon heavy-hitters like Bahamas and Hannah Georgas.

Forecast: Rufus, you had me at William Shatner and Shakespeare. As for Royal Wood, Ghost Light is a musical poltergeist you won’t want to exorcise.

Honourable mention: Guided by Voices (Please Be Honest). It’s not quite a band reunion. Frontman Robert Pollard plays all the instruments on this record. He should start a new group called Guided by Voice.